Menu button on left side is still a bit awkward, memory card door could snap shut a bit harder, USB and Audio port doors are a bit flimsy rubberized plastic, Noticeable heavier camera, AF while recording video noticeable not as good as A6000 for ex.

Review

The Full Frame Sony A7II is the latest and greatest mirrorless e-mount camera from Sony! In this review I will go over everything I can think of to test this bad boy out including real world photography and lab testing. I have the killer FE 16-35mm f/4 OSS ZA lens to try out as well as my Canon EF lenses via the Metabones electronic lens adapter, and also my old school MC 50mm f/1.4 Rokkor-X Lens via a passive adapter.

The Full Frame Sony A7 II

So here is the Sony A7 II full frame mirrorless camera with the Sony Vario-Tessar T* FE 16-35mm f/4 ZA OSS Lens mounted so you can see the size/ scale.

Sony A7II and FE 16-35mm f/4 ZA OSS Lens

Build quality feels great and I like the slightly textured finish as apposed to the smooth finish of the previous generation. The larger grip is excellent as expected, and the new shutter position is a huge improvement ergonomically as well.

The A7II full frame mirrorless camera is heavier than the previous generation for sure! I noticed this immediately when I took it out of the box and was surprised honestly. Clearly the larger form factor, and full magnesium chassis added some heft to this camera and it is worth noting.

Sony A7II and FE 16-35mm f/4 ZA OSS Lens

Loving the new larger grip, shutter, and built-in dial. It’s pointer finger heaven and better than the previous generation in my opinion.

Sony A7II and FE 16-35mm f/4 ZA OSS Lens

New port doors on the cameras left side open down and are rubberized plastic. It is definitely easier to get the usb cable in with this design, but the doors don’t feel as good as the metal ones. A trade-off I suppose and they are otherwise working great so far with no accidental openings! Having an easier time getting the usb cable in and out might seam like no big deal ,but it’s actually huge in my opinion considering how my times you have to do it.

Sony A7r vs Sony A7II – Port Side w/ doors open

The new slimmer front and rear control dials work really well and have nice amount of dampening and space between notches. It’s easier to go from one notch to the next without going three clicks for example. I often go further than I want when using the A7r dials, but these don’t have that problem. They are closer to the actually camera body though, so if wearing gloves they may be a bit harder to use.

Front and Rear Control Dials

From the top you can clearly see the new shutter placement and thinner deeper grip design. Also note the SteadyShot INSIDE text and new custom button added to the top right side.

From the Top View

The bottom of the camera has been completely re-designed and is much better! The bottom flat area of the camera is almost 1/2 of an inch thicker front to back. This is a huge improvement and means your tri-pod plate will get full contact on the bottom of the camera. My Gitzo quick release plate hangs over the back a lot on my A7r. Basically, this means you can mount a heavier lens on with more confidence without the camera chassis flexing or anything. I would estimate the mount point is about 50% stronger with this new design based on how my tri-pod plate fits and how it feels when mounted. Awesome job Sony and thanks for addressing this “weak” point for lack of a better word.

A7 Vs A7 II – Bottom

As you can see the Sony A7II has some serious upgrades going on for it in the camera body design and ergonomics department specifically. The increased weight and size is also significant. It feels great though in my hands and the extra weight is not bad at all honestly. With extended carrying I would notice the extra weight though I’m sure.

Sample Photos

These images are a combination of Jpeg and Raw quality saved out for the web via Lightroom 5 @ ~1000px, 75% Quality, Sharpening for web standard. 100% Crops of the center area are also provided on some images for easier per pixel detail inspection. See the info just below photos in the caption for details.

My boy Jase is just about 5 Months old already! I know, tome flies…. I did enhance the eye a little on this photo with an adjustment brush using a little brightness and clarity. If you would like to learn more about enhancing your photos in Lightroom, check this thread out on the forums >>

Auto HDR

Auto HDR is one of the Auto features that I really enjoy using from time to time. It does not work as good as taking sperate files and working them on the computer, but for a completely automatic process the results are quite good. See below what AUTO HDR did for this scene.

Once at ISO 3200 the results are very clean and totally usable for most anything in my opinion. Above ISO 3200 you will begin to see the noise creep in and get steadily more noticeable. ISO 25600 is pretty noisy and really un-usable in most cases. The black areas also have a slight purple color cast that is noticeable.

DXOMark Sensor Score

DXOMark does the most detailed technical sensor testing that I know of on the web. I trust the results and it’s a great way to compare apples to apples when trying to decide what camera to buy I find. Note below how the new A7II fairs against the A7s (Reviewed here) and A7r (Reviewed Here) full frame mirrorless cameras.

As you can see the dynamic range and color bit depth on the A7r have a slight edge, but in the real world this is pretty hard to notice honestly. Basically you would get a little more room for adjusting highlights and shadows if shooting raw quality. Also a little more color information to work with in the same way. The images other than resolution would still look very similar in the end though in my opinion, because it’s relatively minor differences. The A7s High ISO abilities are just amazing though and it stands in a class of it’s own as far as that goes…

5-Axis Steady-Shot

Sony Alpha a7II 5-Axis SteadyShot

I tested the Steadyshot with my old school 50mm f/1.4 Rokkor-X Lens and it works awesome now with the Firmware update >>

I have also tested the SteadyShot with the Metabones III lens adapter and it works awesome! It see the lens and I was able to get a 1/15sec shot @ 200mm with the lens IS turned OFF. Only utilizing the in camera steadyshot proved to be better than expected with such a large lens honestly. I figured I would get about 1/30sec maybe, but no much slower than that.

The SteadyShot also works great in video as you saw can see in the full video review above at the beginning of this review article.

Testing Steady-Shot

Testing the steadyshot hand-held at very low shutter speeds was not only fun, it was a first for me! My A7r does not allow this type of shooting due to camera shake. First the full test scene then the 100% crops for sharpness inspection!

Full Scene @ 1/15th sec hand held

sony a7II – Steadyshot Test – MC 50mm f/1.4 @ 1/15 second

100% Crop – 1/15th sec

100% Crop – Sony a7II – Steadyshot Test – MC 50mm f/1.4 @ 1/15 second

100% Crop – 1/8th sec

100% Crop – Sony a7II – Steadyshot Test – MC 50mm f/1.4 @ 1/8 second

100% Crop – 1/6th sec

100% Crop – Sony a7II – Steadyshot Test – MC 50mm f/1.4 @ 1/6 second

100% Crop – 1/4 sec

100% Crop – Sony a7II – Steadyshot Test – MC 50mm f/1.4 @ 1/4 second

Using Lens Adapters

I really enjoy using alternative lenses on the Sony E-Mount cameras, and now with full frame and SteadyShot, it’s way more fun and easy to get sharp shots! Here are some shots I got with the 50mm on Christmas Eve at family’s house with killer decorations everywhere! Auto WB and Jpeg mode was used here for these images.

You can pick up the Minolta MC Rokkor-X PG 50 F/1.4 Lens for ~$20 – $60 US on Ebay (Click Here) The Cheap Lens adapter I’m using only cost ~$17 US, and you can get it @ Amazon (Click Here)

Sony A7 II w/ 50mm f/1.4 Rokkor-X Lens

Sony A7 II w/ 50mm f/1.4 Rokkor-X Lens

Sony A7 II w/ 50mm f/1.4 Rokkor-X Lens

Sony A7 II w/ 50mm f/1.4 Rokkor-X Lens

Sony A7 II w/ 50mm f/1.4 Rokkor-X Lens

This next abstract style photo was taken on the kitchen table looking thru a glass with the Christmas tree in the background. The results look like deep space to me 😉

Sony A7 II w/ 50mm f/1.4 Rokkor-X Lens

Bones sleeping 🙂

Sony A7 II w/ 50mm f/1.4 Rokkor-X Lens

Here is another of Chubs shot with the Metabones III and EF 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS Lens and and I used the on camera steadyshot only. It worked awesome!

Sony A7II w/ Metabones and EF 70-200mm f/2.8 IS L Lens

Sony A7II w/ Metabones and EF 70-200mm f/2.8 IS L Lens

Conclusions

The Sony A7 II delivers in my opinion and besides the few nit-picks I pointed out in the video review, it’s fantastic. The firmware update addressed the only real issue with the camera and now the IBIS works flawlessly with my favorite old school lenses! 1/6th of a second sharp shots no problem and that can’t be done on my Sony A7r. Any want my Sony A7r, so I can buy this new A7 II? Seriously, offers are welcomed 😉

The FE 16-35mm f/4 ZA OSS Lens is a must have lens in my opinion! Killer at both 16mm and 35mm, plus rich color and great contrast. I also really enjoyed using the FE 35mm f/.8 ZA lens and the built in SteadyShot really helped with the low light situations. With the much heavier Old School Minolta 50mm f/1.4 Rokkor-X Lens the on camera stabilization was very noticeable and extremely helpful I found.

The A7II IQ is very good, but about the same as the original A7 as far as I can tell. Real world image quality is excellent and I recommend shooting Raw so you can get the most out of your photos in the digital lab so to speak. This does take time though, so using the built in picture effects and other creative modes are fun and the results are really good using jpeg quality. In Jpeg mode the noise reduction, saturation, and sharpening are fairly heavy. At times the images are a bit sharper than I would like which is why I prefer shooting Raw and enhancing more selectively myself. The Sony cameras so many options nowadays, that I highly recommend you check out my RX100 III How-To Use video. That video will show you how all the newer Sony cameras work for the most part in a variety of ways. All the menus systems and basic functions are the same for the most part as you will see.

Auto focus during video is not as good as the A6000 which I reviewed most recently (Click Here) It will not stay on what the flexible spot is set to for example and goes back into Auto AF mode when recording. This makes it difficult to record at the minimum focus distance for example as the camera will go into auto and loose the focus point when the record button is pressed. You can press the shutter which will force the camera to focus while recording, but once you let go it will float back to average auto again. It doesn’t seam to matter what settings you have enabled for AF either. One way to fight this is by simple using manual focus when you need to and then switching to AF when applicable. I also would use the focus lock and just edit the video accordingly knowing I had to do that of course…

Notes for Sony:

Overall the camera is a fantastic next generation unit, but a few things could be improved in my opinion:

Menu Button really needs to be moved over to the right side of the camera

Memory card door should snap shut more aggressively, so it doesn’t open accidentally when hand holding occasionally.

Audio and USB/ HDMI port doors are a little flimsy compared to the older metal doors. I feel they could also snap in better or be more rubberized for a tighter seal. It is easier to get the usb cable in though which is very nice

Battery door still does not snap closed without having to slide the little lock lever over. This should be spring loaded so a simple door closing will lock! Very easy and I can’t believe this is still not fixed after all this time. In the real world it’s only once and while when changing the battery, so it’s not the biggest deal really. It was worse on the Nex-6, because the memory card is in under the same door and required more frequent open and closing.

The menu system is pretty good, but could be better. Please allow for a favorites area or something that can be custom programmed. So we can put whatever the most commonly used features we need. For myself, format, Custom WB set, and a few other things would be in there…

Self Timer and Bracketing should be in a different function menus so one can be used with the other. As it is now you need a remote, shutter release cable, or smart phone w/ Apps to get Bracket shots without touching the camera. Almost all other manufactures allow for this and it seams like a software fix can resolve this know frustrating issue. Particularly HDR Photographers complain about this mostly coming from Canon and/or Nikon.

Final Words:

I hope you got what you were looking for in this review and please feel free to ask questions or comment below. Using the support links below and elsewhere, helps keep things a float, so I really appreciate it you taking the time to use them when making purchases.

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17 Comments

Hey Jay,
Happy New Year, and great review. Re the steady-shot and legacy lenses, do you mean you leave the camera on after mounting the E-series lens and while mounting the legacy lens with the passive adapter?

Happy New Year, and it does not seam to matter if you turn the camera on or off. I left mine on and tried it with the camera off. Not everybody is having these same exact results though apparently, so give it go a see what happens!

Curious how you feel about the auto focus with adapters bringing in other lenses? eg: a canon L series lens and/or a sony A mount lens – does the auto focus lose accuracy and/or speed to the point that it’s frustrating? (thinking for photographing people)

With the Sony electronic lens adapters like the LA-EA4, the AF is awesome and DSLR in nature. With the LA-EA3 it’s contrast AF only and fairly slow. Can be frustrating. With the Metabones electronic lens adapter for the Canon EF L lenses it’s frustrating and slow for sure. It’s worse than the contrast AF only of the LA-EA3 lens adapter in my opinion. Fo a closer look, I recently reviewed the 135mm f/1.8 A-Mount lens with the LA-EA4 and my A7r over here >>

Therefore, Sony A-Mount lenses are more usable than Canon EF for sure in the real world. LA-EA4 and Sony A-Mount is the best option for fast AF performance. Having the EF lenses makes using the Metabones nice for aperture control and AF when time is no issue. Moving kids or people though, forget it. Landscapes it works fine though!

One of the best reviews on this product and in on a camera product in general! To the point, crisp and perfectly paced (not slow not fast) yet covering all commonly sought after things we look for! Very well done!!!

I wanted to know how easy it is to get the AF-S working with a single button click. This has been my pet peeve with all Sony mirrorless cameras. You go through several clicks before you can select the simplest things that you want to do. I am Nikon user but Canon, Fuji and Olympus do that so well as well. Not sure if Sony has made this easier now. I have Sony NEX-3N and it’s frustrating to use that mode.

Thank you very much for the kind words and question Vipul 😉 Yes you can get to the AF-S option through the custom button 3, by default. Basucally you press that button and then you have to select which mode you want. You can program this to several different spots if you like as well.

Since I am not as young as I used to be, the weight of full frame camera’s and their quality lenses has been starting to become an issue, so when Sony came out with the A7 series cameras last year I was excited and was an early user of the A7r and the A7. However, for the A7r there were two issues which forced me to stay with my Nikon Bodies, the lack of the first curtain electronic shutter and their 11 bit file compression. (Please see RawDigger’s web site for a discussion on the artifact issue.) Even given the file compression issue, I did purchase and use the Sony a6000. It is a great small camera that takes excellent pictures. So, when Sony announced the A7 II, I checked all the web sites for news on their file handling and all claimed it was a 14 bit camera. So when I received my A7II over the Christmas season, I put it through a bunch of tests with my D810, D600 and a6000. Let me say, that I wanted to love the A7II. Sony has done a great job of improving the weight and feel of this camera although I was a little disappointed with the resolution of the monitor. However, I was “really” disappointed to see that Sony had done nothing to fix their file compression issue and the file is still an 11 bit file (one ready claims this is really 11 bits plus 7, whatever that means.) The bottom line was that Sony throws away about 1/4 of the information coming from this full frame sensor, completely negating the advantage this body has over the a6000. The resulting file is the same seize and same quality as the a6000. Why spend all that money for this camera and lenses when the result is the same as the a6000? So I sent the A7II back. It’s wonderful that Sony is making some real progress on these mirror-less cameras, but they will not be true Pro quality cameras until they do something with the file management. We need the pressure of individuals like you to call Sony out on this issue. There is supposed to be a new larger FE Sony camera coming out in February. I sincerely hope it is a true 14bit camera and not another pretend.

Hello Earl and thanks for the detailed comments in regards to the raw output quality/ compression. I have not looked into this with such detail as you did, however the fact remains the the Nikon cameras are using Sony sensors, and Nikon is able to get better quality out of them due to this compression issue. Sony is clearly aware of this and I have no idea why they chose to do this. The results in the real world are honestly very minimal in my experience and compared to my Canon 5d mark II for example. I don’t have anything that is better than the A7r to compare with unfortunate, so I rely on DXOMark for that. They totally agree with what you are saying as due the scores. It’s only a few points though in the end?

Now that does not make the A6000 the same as the A7II in quality though?

Calling the camera pretend is a bit unfair I would say. It sounds like you are a Nikon guy and just need to wait for them to come out with a similar camera if the few points on the sensor score/ raw file matter that much. I did look at the website you mentioned and the compression is a factor based on the testing they did, no question. In the real world I do not find this compression to be an issue at all. That is based on what I do though. Perhaps If I was used to the D610 and never had to deal with these artifacts, then suddenly did like yourself, I would be frustrated. The artifacts have never been an issue for my style of photography or in any of the testing I have ever done. The Rawdiggers website seams to specialize in that sort of thing though.

Sorry I really can’t help you with your situation, but perhaps Sony will listen and change the compression format on the raw files sooner than later. All it takes is a firmware update, but my guess is a higher end camera will come out with better bit-depth someday. Sony will then charge a premium for that camera most likely….

Hello Jay, thanks for this great review and give us a chance to send some feedback to the sony tech. My biggest frustration with these sony cameras ( i have used the nex6 and now a7) compare to my canon gears is: when you shoot in speed priority, if there is not enough light at the widest aperture, there is an option on my 5dmk2 so the speed will decrease automatically till enough light. I couldn’t find such an option on the sony mirrorless and it is really really missing ( hello mister sony) So many of my street photos are…. Under exposed Also I wish i could have more control over the auto iso like the nikon bodys…

I am lifelong Nikon User , i just bought my Sony Alpha ii & just graduating in making the move ( am not sure yet , still feel comfortable with Nikon) . I have the Sony A 7ii + Vario Tessar FE 4/24-70 ZA OSS . However i seem to have an front focussing issue with the lens . The A7ii has a AF micro adjust menu , but the “Amount” option is greyed out. When i refer to the manual its says it works only when using an A-mount lens with the Mount Adaptor LA-EA2 or LA-EA4 . How do i solve this issue- Can you help

Thanks Luis 😉 I’m thinking of doing the same thing, but can’t seem to bare the loss of the A7r just yet. It’s the Best IQ I have ever had, and I don’t want to let it go or dwwngrsde to the A7II although it is better in every other way. Brutal decision for sure!

I recently bought the 85mm batis for my A6000 and im thinking of getting the 55mm ziess aswell but would I get much sharper images if I was to invest and upgrade the body from A6000 to A7ii, as i have noticed that the A6000 isn’t always that sharp even with eye focus on my portraits, would the A7ii be worth the costly upgrade in terms of IQ/sharpness

Great question and sorry for the delayed reply! I don’t think you would get that much sharper images with the A7r II. Are you using a flash? The images should be tack sharp with the Batis lens, but perhaps you are getting some subject movement, or camera movement? What kind of shutter speeds are you using and what kind of subject matter? Moving or still?